Bike Feature 001 – 1966 Ducati

Over the past ten years, Taryn Nycek has been restoring and rebuilding bikes. Utilizing the experience she gained growing up around her dad who worked on cars since she was seat high. She started out with a 1965 Honda Dream 305 CA77 that she bought in Manchester, CT out of a shed that had been sitting for over 40 years, covered in leaves and left for dead. Since then, she has succumbed to being quite the artist.

This months feature goes to one of her most recent builds, a 1966 Ducati 250. She came across it in a small vintage motorcycle shop in southern Vermont. At first sight, the bike was sitting on a shelf, only being used as a hat rack/display piece. With no way of leaving it behind, it was crammed it into her Jeep Wrangler, and brought to a good home in Connecticut.

Once the bike was in good hands, the tear down and rebuild began to relight an old flame. After a few basic fixes from an oil change, tank cleaning, speedo and throttle cable replacement, it lead to a seat reupholster, and fabrication of a new exhaust pipe. She stuck with the same as stock Pirelli tires, and with no luck of the stock Dell’Orto carb, the aftermarket carb that has been suiting the bike well so far. After all that, a points adjustment, along with a new rear intake valve fabrication was in line, and the bike was road ready. Its amazing what a little TLC and elbow grease can do to a 50 year old motorcycle after being sidelined for so long. The outcome is and effort was definitely worth the wait on this one.